


More than they bargained for

by luna_clee



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Post-Star Trek: Into Darkness, possible canon divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 12:37:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11275482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna_clee/pseuds/luna_clee
Summary: After the Khan incident Scotty felt guilty and McCoy felt lonely.





	More than they bargained for

**Author's Note:**

> I'm working on a series of unrelated short Star Trek fics about unusual pairings, if you have a suggestion, please, let me know.

McCoy was exhausted. It was almost a week after Jim got himself killed and he used Khan’s blood to bring him back, and the kid had not wake up yet. There wasn’t much to do at that point, his brain actitivities were being monitorated and acting as expected, everything looked good, but Leonard still couldn’t rest, not until there was any guarantees that Jim would be fine.

On top of it, McCoy felt lonely. He would scold Jim for his stupidities all the time but, damn, the kid is his best friend. He even missed talking to the pointed-eared bastard but Spock refused to leave Jim’s bedside and definitely wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat. The medical staff was all busy with the rest of the crew, treating injuries and running evaluations, they would just send him reports here and there, everything very professional. Like hell McCoy would admit it, but he missed human contact. 

It was the sixth day after the Khan incident when Leonard found a certain Scottish man sitting in the hallway outside of his quarters when he got back to try and get some sleep.”Scotty, is everything okay?”. McCoy furrowed his eyebrows, it had to be something serious to get Scotty to look for a doctor, the man had to be (quite literally) dragged to his physicals.

Scotty got on his feet slowly and smoothed his uniform, he looked uncomfortable and the doctor couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his eyes and the disturbing lack of his usual energy. Leonard punched the code for his quarter’s door and motioned for Scotty to get in.”Come in, let’s have a drink, God knows we deserve it.”

Both man got inside, Scotty sat at one of the chairs and observed while Leonard served them some bourbon. McCoy sat in the opposite side of the table and sipped his drink.“Spit it out man, you’re making me nervous”. Scotty smiled but it his eyes looked so sad that made Leonard want to reach out for his hand, but he didn’t move, instead, he waited for Scotty to gather some courage to speak.

“Doctor, I cannae sleep”. That was a surprise, McCoy have seen Scotty sleep soundly on an away mission in a planet where the wind blew so loud that kept the rest of the party wake all night. Leonard sighed, he knew what the problem was. “You are having nightmares?” Sounded more like an affirmation than a question, Scotty nodded. “Tell me what you see.” Leonard was no therapist but he had some psychology training and they were not very close but they are friends after all. The CEO told Leonard about the nightmares, about how he felt guilty for not anticipating Jim’s actions and failing to stop him, he paused several times, eyes wet with tears threatening to fall down. Leonard nodded once in a while but let the other man speak, he could tell Scotty was as private about his feelings as he was and that the other man had to be actually desperate to come to him and talk like that. The CMO knew he was a good listener and, besides, he too was very familiar with the bad dreams, the feeling of not having done enough.

Four glasses of bourbon later Scotty have finished his story and his expressions were considerably lighter, both doctor and engineer looked at their glasses in a comfortable silence, Scotty relieved for having someone to talk about his trauma and Leonard happy for having someone just to talk with. McCoy wondered why he and Scotty didn’t hang out more, they had a lot in common now that he thought about it.   
Scotty got up to leave, realizing it was late and he had taken too much of the doctor’s time, he started to apologize when McCoy interrupted him. “Hey, Scotty, we are friends, you don’t need to apologize for anything, besides, it’s been a week since someone actually talked to me not to make a report or something…” Scotty smiled, apparently he’d been in the same situation. 

“I can give you something to help you sleep” Leonard reached for his medical kit but Scotty shook his head. “I’m already feeling a wee better, doctor, but I will talk to that therapist you recommended.” The engineer shoved his hands in his pockets like he didn’t know what to do with them and headed to the door, the doctor followed him. The door “shooshed” open and Scotty turned around.”G’night then, doctor, and thank you”, Leonard held Scotty’s arm. “Please Scotty, the name’s Leonard. Come back tomorrow, would you?” Scotty looked surprised but smiled and nodded, the doctor smiled back and let go of the other man’s arm after giving it a little squeeze. Leonard felt surprisingly relaxed after Scotty left, he took a shower and went to bed after reading some reports and slept for more than five hours straight, more than he had slept for weeks now. He wondered if Scotty slept that well too, he hoped so.

The next day Scotty showed up about the same hour, the engineer brought a bottle of scotch and they drank and talked. Scotty complained about the engineers that were sent to assist in the repairs on the Enterprise. They both agreed that their staff was the best Starfleet had to offer and it was hard to coordinate outsiders that didn’t understand that things worked a little different under the command of one Captain James Tiberius Perfect Hair. McCoy noticed Scotty’s smile fade to the mention of Jim. “He is fine in case you are wondering. He’s going to be just fine” Leonard made an effort to say it out loud, if not to reassure the engineer at least to try and convince himself.

They started seeing each other every day, in one or the other’s quarters after their shifts or to grab lunch together, Scotty even went to see Jim once. At first they spoke about work and their routines but, as the time passed, they started talking about things they liked, their families, their time in the Academy. Leonard used to be very private about his personal life but found out talking to Scotty was just easy, the engineer was a good listener as well, he made funny comments on light subjects but would never make fun o Leonard or hold some information against him. Some of this days Scotty would crash in McCoy’s couch. When the nightmares came, the doctor would wake up Scotty and just talk to him and hold his hands for a while until he got back to sleep, Leonard wasn’t even sure the other man remembered this exchanges but he was glad to help anyway. 

Talking to Scotty was different, the doctor realized, he didn’t felt like he had to advise him, like he did with Jim, and didn’t feel like arguing about every piece of information they exchanged, like he did with Spock, or even the general sense of responsibility he felt about the crew. He and the CEO were the same rank and both knew what was having the weight of people’s safety over their shoulders, they were equals, plain and simple. It’s easy to get attached when you have such strong commitment in common. Leonard realized how weird was that they worked together all this time and yet they knew so little about each other. The other thing he realized was that he really liked Montgomery Scott’s company and was afraid that, once they were back in that flying tin can, everything would go back to what it was before, this thought made his guts twist a little. 

The day Jim woke up Leonard had to make an effort to keep it together in front of Spock while he ran all the tests he could think of. After he was sure everything was ok with the captain, he left him and Spock alone to talk, God knew they had some matters to discuss. 

Before he could realize what he was doing, Leonard was running down the hallway, grinning like a lunatic, heading to Scotty’s quarters. He stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath before knocking, after a few moments the door opened, Leonard didn’t wait for an invitation before getting in and grabbing Scotty by the shoulders. “He is wake, he is fine, there’s no brain damage, he’ll be all right”. Scotty hugged Leonard. “You are a genius, y’know? You brought him back…you brought him back”. They stayed still for a moment, just feeling each other’s warmth. Leonard felt the tension of weeks slowly leaving his shoulders.

The tears came and they just let them fall, holding onto each other. Leonard sobbed quietly on Scotty’s shoulder and when he was done, face all red and nose running, he backed down enough to look into the other man’s eyes. “Thank you, I don’t know what I would have done without you all this time”. It was sincere yet Leonard knew he was not telling Scotty everything. 

When Montgomey wiped the tears from Leonard’s face, the doctor instinctively closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. He felt the arching of Scotty’s chest getting faster, his heart beating so fast it showed through the fabric of his shirt. McCoy opened his eyes to meet the ones of a terrified looking engineer, he smiled, they were two idiots.

Leonard moved his head slowly forward until their lips met, he kept his eyes open to register Scotty’s reaction, it would hurt like hell to be rejected but he had to have Scotty’s consent. Almost for his surprised, Scotty hugged Leonard tighter, closing the little space between them, one of his hands slipped to Len’s hair, the other stopped in the small of his back. 

They kissed slowly at first, almost hesitantly, getting faster and faster until the need for air was too urgent to ignore. Leonard looked at Scotty for a moment, he wanted to remember this forever, the blush in his face, the smile, God, does he know how beautiful he is? The doctor felt like a teenager again, giggling with his face buried in Scotty’s shoulder. 

“So, when were you planning on tell me we were dating?” Leonard threw his head back, laughing at the question. “I could ask you the same thing, Monty”, they laughed and then kissed again, and again, and again.

**Author's Note:**

> The “So, when were you planning on tell me we were dating?” part i took from a fic about McCoy and Sulu that i unfortunately can't find anymore, but if it looked familiar, yes, i took it from there.


End file.
